


Shield High

by Fanhag102



Series: Student/Teacher Stony [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Fluff, High school teachers AU, M/M, Mr. Rogers - Freeform, Mr. Stark, also some superfamily I'm sorry, some Hulkeye snuck in there idk how it happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-08
Updated: 2013-02-08
Packaged: 2017-11-28 16:21:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/676412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanhag102/pseuds/Fanhag102
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mr. Stark is the infuriating Physics teacher down the hall from Mr. Rogers' History classroom. He gave Steve an obnoxious nickname, is constantly taking Peter from his class for science, and might actually be a really good teacher (and person) if Steve will just give him a chance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shield High

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't think up a title really because the other two fics were titled after which of them was the teacher, but they were both teachers in this, so I just thought I'd make the title the name of the school in which they taught, Shield High, in case that wasn't clear. XD
> 
> This isn't technically Student/Teacher stony, but it's going in this series anyway because it is high school, real life AU, and someone sort of asked me to write it in this series anyway.

“Mr. Rogers, which war is your favorite?” 

Steve Rogers, 26 year old American History teacher frowned at the question one of his students posed. He looked out over the faces of the students; this was a junior class but some odd seniors could be found here and there, making up a credit they needed to graduate. He nodded, setting down the book he’d been reading from to answer seriously,

“I don’t have a favorite war, Eli. No one should, because war is not something we should glorify,” the kid who had asked the question, Eli, looked abashed, and Steve pushed on, because this was important. “Now, don’t get me wrong; sometimes war is necessary. There are things in this world worth fighting for: family, justice, freedom. But we mustn’t get caught up in the ideals of war. If you asked, perhaps, which war I think was the most just, or best fought, then I might have an answer.” 

The class was quiet and observant for once. Steve smiled; this was what he liked about teaching, helping the next generation understand the importance of the things that came from the past. He made eye contact with the student who had originally posed the question and asked,

“Do you know why we study history, Eli?”

Eli shrugged and Steve nodded. 

“We study the past so that we don’t repeat the _mistakes_ of the past. When we are learning about the different wars that have plagued America, the one thing I want you to take away is the cause behind those wars and the sacrifices made to end them. You are the next generation of politicians and scientists and _heroes_ and if you go around thinking that wars are something to be revered, well, then, there will probably be more wars! Why was World War one called a world war?”

A few hands shot into the air, even though Steve had mostly meant that as a rhetorical question. He chose a hand anyway. 

“Yes, Tommy?”

“The whole world was part of it?” 

“Partly, yes,” Steve agreed, another slight nod of his head. “Also, because no one ever expected that a second war of that magnitude would ever happen again—but it did, and it wound up being far greater than the first. I will never have a favorite war because each war teaches the same thing; if only we would be willing to listen then we would be able to do away with war for good.”

Silence greeted him as his words set into the room, then,

“Isn’t he freakishly patriotic, kids?” Steve spun around to see the physics teacher from down the hall leaning with crossed arms and a devilish smirk against the doorframe. “This is why we call him Captain America when he isn’t listening. Oops.”

“T—Mr. Stark!” Steve frowned at his coworker and the use of that dumb nickname he and some of the other teachers called him. They thought he didn’t know about it but he did; Coach Barton had started calling him Cap over a year ago without even realizing that he did it. Before long half the staff called him that and it was too late to try and change it. 

“What are you doing here?” He asked, straightening up as though on edge—the way he always felt around Mr. Stark. “Aren’t you teaching a class right now?” 

Mr. Stark shot a dashing grin Steve’s way and the taller man tried to not let it bother him like it usually would. He hated looking foolish in front of his students but somehow Tony always managed to make him act like an idiot. He glanced at the class and half of them had already started their own side conversations the moment Tony had interrupted; the other half were patiently waiting for class to continue, but they would be distracted any moment. 

“I’m here for Parker. Need him to help me out with an experiment real quick.” 

Steve glanced towards where the student Tony was asking for sat and saw him passed out and drooling on the desk, floppy brown hair stuck up at weirder angles then usual. Tony slid his hands in his pockets and took a step forward. 

“Oy, Peter. Wake up, Bambi, I’ve got work for you.”

Peter woke with a start and stared around the room until his eyes settled on Tony and he mumbled sleepily,

“Mr. Stark?” 

“Yup. Now get that—“ he glanced at Steve with an expression Steve couldn’t classify and said with the corners of his lips tipped up, “— _butt_ in gear. Banner isn’t here so you’re filling in.”

Peter stood up right away, sleep gone from his eyes as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed towards the door. 

“What are we doing?” 

“Don’t look so excited, it’s just some basic energy conversion. If we’re careful, we won’t blow up the school.”

“Tony!” 

“Kidding, Cap, I’m kidding. Go on to the lab, Peter. Meet you there in a minute.” 

Peter nodded and raced out the door and down the hall as Mr. Stark turned on Steve with a cocky grin. 

“You really shouldn’t take students from their classes for your own experiments.” 

“Sorry, sorry, I’ll bring him back soon. Besides, it didn’t look like he was learning much in here anyway.” 

Tony flinched slightly under Steve’s glare but his grin remained intact. 

“You could have just sent a student to get him, you know.” 

The grin grew as Tony winked and replied,

“Then I wouldn’t get the excuse to visit you. What fun would that be?”

Steve glared as Tony chuckled and slid from the room and down the hall. Steve took another moment to compose himself, then began teaching again.

“As I was saying…”

 

School had ended half an hour ago and the few students that Steve gave extra tutoring to were just heading out the door. Steve followed them out and stood in his classroom doorway, watching the mostly empty hall. Mr. Barton and Ms. Romanov walked past the hallway without turning, apparently deep in conversation. Just as he was about to return to his desk and get started on grading the pop quiz he’d had to give in fourth period, he saw two figures emerge from the largest physics class down the hall; Mr. Stark’s physics class. 

He waited by the door and watched as Mr. Stark patted Peter on the shoulder. Steve frowned. Peter hadn’t come back to class after Tony took him, and from the look of things he didn’t go to any of his other classes either. Peter laughed at something Mr. Stark said, then very slyly Tony slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled what Steve could obviously tell was money. Right away Peter tried not to take it, but Tony seemed to insist, shoving it into Peter’s hands and pushing him towards the door. Peter started walking away, giving Mr. Stark one last grateful smile before vanishing around the corner. Steve ground his teeth and called down hall to Tony,

“Mr. Stark, may I have a word with you in my room?” 

Tony’s expression was surprised and pleased, although Steve didn’t seem to notice. The physics teacher made his way cheerfully down the hall, hands slipped easily into his pockets and one eyebrow raised as he entered Steve’s classroom and asked,

“What’s shakin’, Cap?” 

“Tony,” Steve sighed. “You aren’t allowed to give students money. It’s part of the teacher’s handbook. I might have to turn you in for this, Tony, it’s serious—“

“Woah, woah, woah! Hold on a sec, Steve. I can explain!” Tony said quickly, hands raised to try and calm Steve down. Steve reluctantly let Tony have his say. 

He didn’t trust Tony Stark. 

Ever since Tony came to the school Steve hadn’t trusted him. His story was too strange, too different. He was supposedly a billionaire who decided to give up the big life and become a teacher. Despite that, he remained flashy and high-tech and modern and all the things Steve didn’t like and didn’t trust. Teachers were supposed to influence their students to grow into good people; Steve wasn’t sure what kind of influence Tony Stark had on students, but he didn’t think “old-fashioned values” was on that list. 

Not to mention that way Tony looked at him sometimes, like he was something to eat. It made Steve feel a little funny every time he thought about it. And it wasn’t as though Steve was against that kind of thing! He understood very clearly that civil rights were for all people; it was just that he’d never had that kind of intent aimed at him before. He tried to tell himself it was all in his head, but rumors about Tony Stark floated around the school barely a week after he taught his first class. Apparently, Tony liked pretty people. He didn’t care what gender they were. And even though Steve tried to ignore them, he _did_ hear a few rumors that Stark had his eye on a certain brawny, blond history teacher. 

Tony heaved a sigh and started talking, making Steve focus on the man in front of him and not in his head.

“I only gave Parker that money because—“ he slipped his hands in his pockets again and shrugged. “Look, the kid’s an orphan, right? I heard that his uncle recently died too, so now it’s just him and his aunt. The reason he’s always sleeping in class is because he has to work at night to help his family out. He’s a good kid, you know? So sometimes I have him help me out a little and then I slip him a fifty. It doesn’t hurt anything, you know?” 

He was looking tentatively up at Steve, who was suddenly and violently taken aback. He stared blankly at Tony, surprised by this explanation. He never would have thought someone like Tony Stark would be that—that _kind_. Steve took a moment to collect himself, trying not to let his surprise show on his face as he said with a frown,

“Still, Tony. You shouldn’t keep him from his classes all day just to help you. He’s struggling enough as it is.” 

Tony grinned softly. 

“I know. That one’s a little selfish. He’s a smart kid—genius really. He reminds me of myself when I was his age. I like having him around and he doesn’t seem mind it either. He sleeps through half his classes anyway—I might as well have him learn something while he’s at school. Besides, kid’s got way too much pride to take my money without feeling like he earned it. He’s a bit dumb that way.” 

Tony smiled a soft smile to show he was mostly joking. Steve was reeling.

“Right, uh,” he managed to say, turning to stumble back to his desk. “Okay then.”

“So… you aren’t going to turn me into Fury?” Tony asked, raising that one blasted eyebrow again, and for some reason Steve just couldn’t look away from it. 

“N—no,” Steve replied, forcing his eyes down at his desk, looking _anywhere_ but at Tony. But, he just couldn’t resist and he looked up again just in time for Tony to walk over to the door, giving Steve a wink and a grin as he said cheekily,

“Good talkin’ to ya, Cap.” 

Steve definitely wasn’t starting to like that nickname. And he _definitely_ didn’t have to fight back a smile when Mr. Stark called him that. 

 

Steve stood up and stretched. It was his planning period, so he didn’t have to teach and could spend the time doing anything he liked, though usually he spent it planning the next day’s classes or drawing something in his sketchbook. Today he was doing some extra grading because he’d assigned his students an essay without thinking about how much work it was going to be on him as well as the students. 

He needed a break from staring at papers that all said the same thing, so he grabbed his sketchbook and decided to go out to the outdoor classroom (a place in the trees behind the main building where some teachers liked to bring their students if it was a nice day and they were lecturing). He was making his way down the hall when he heard quite a bit of noise coming from a class on the left-hand side; Mr. Stark’s classroom. Steve was just going to keep on walking by, but the door was open and he could hear Tony’s boisterous voice trying to quiet his students—and Steve was curious. He paused outside the door in a way no one would see him but he could see the white board, Tony, and the first row of students pretty clearly. 

“…and I swear, I will fail each and every one of you if I find another fake love-note on my desk.” The class laughed and Steve saw Tony smile, then clap his hands together and become suddenly serious. “Okay! Now that I have everyone’s attention… Almost everyone. Billy! Teddy! Can you guys, seriously, get a room, because I’m tired of the two of you making googly eyes at each other while I’m trying to teach, okay?” 

The class laughed again and Steve didn’t even have to see which students Tony was staring at to know which ones were guilty. Even Steve wasn’t oblivious to their flirting; he’d caught them necking behind the gym staircase at _least_ twice. Through the laughter, a student in the second row must have muttered something that Steve didn’t catch because the laughter doubled. He didn’t think Tony was supposed to have heard it either, but the physics teacher apparently had heard it as he took a minute to embarrass that student next. 

“Ha ha, Storm. Good one. I’ll tell ya what, Johnny, make another crack like that and you won’t touch a Bunsen burner for the rest of the year. Moving _on_! I sure hope you all are pleased with yourselves because we have now wasted time I would have otherwise been _blowing your minds with science_! Oh, sure, you guys roll your eyes now, but just you wait. Here’s a question for you: say I fire a gun, and at the exact same time I drop a bullet from the exact height the gun was fired. If the fired bullet doesn’t hit anything and just goes until it falls to the ground, which one will actually touch the ground first?” 

Steve frowned, thinking it over. He definitely would have thought the fired bullet would take longer to reach the ground because of all the time it would need to travel through the air, but that answer seemed to obvious. Besides, it would be nearly impossible to find anywhere to shoot a gun where the bullet wouldn’t run into something. Steve never remembered physics being like this. 

“Yes, Bishop, got an answer for me?” Tony said, pointing to a girl in the front row that was in Steve’s second period class. He liked her; she had spunk. 

“Hypothetically, they would reach the ground at the same time.” 

Steve watched as Tony rolled his eyes and slumped his shoulders.

“Kate, why do I even call on you? Your brains ruin all my fun. Stop that smirking; I know physics is your favorite. I put a biology problem in front of you and you’d just stare blankly. Anyway, Hawkeye Jr. here is right, they would, as she so sassily put it, _hypothetically_ reach the ground at the same time… Ahh, see, I _have_ blown your minds with science, haven’t I? See, this is why it works…”

He trailed off into descriptions and formulas of gravity and other elements of physics. He managed to make the class laugh every few minutes, and if Steve managed to keep up he found himself laughing right along with them. He wound up staying the entire class period and listening to Tony’s entire lesson. By the time he realized it, his planning period was over and he had never even made it down the hall, much less outside. When the bell rang he shuffled as quickly as he could back to his class; he thought Tommy Shepherd might have seen him sneaking away from the physics classroom but that was just because he raced out of the class and down the hall as soon as the bell sounded. 

Steve closed his classroom door as soon as he made it back to his room, glad that this class period had lunch before they came to him. He sighed deeply. 

Well, that had certainly been an interesting planning period. Steve felt a little bad about not finishing reading through the essays, but he knew his kid’s wouldn’t mind if they got them back a little later than expected. 

The things Tony had taught were still zooming around Steve’s head, especially the way he taught them. Steve had always thought Physics was a terribly boring subject. There was too much math, and most of it sounded like sciency mumbo-jumbo to him, but somehow it wasn’t anything like that when Tony was teaching it. 

Tony had this way of teaching, of talking about and describing the forces of nature that made them sound exciting, like they were more magic than science. Steve almost wished he could make History that interesting. Sometimes he thought he did, but he didn’t think he ever sounded like Tony when he was teaching. There were moments when Steve wished he’d studied to teach art instead of history, at least then he could be creative (and maybe his students wouldn’t treat his class like it was some kind of punishment). 

More than anything though—Steve was surprised. Somehow he just hadn’t imagined that Tony would be a _good_ teacher. And, amazingly, Tony was more than just good. He was fantastic! Steve felt guilty for judging Tony wrongly all that time. 

The more Steve thought about Tony, the more interested he became. Tony talked about physics like he really _knew_ it. Not in a conceptual sense, but practically. Steve would bet anything that before Tony decided to become a teacher he was using that knowledge to build thing, amazing things! 

Steve was starting to wonder what other things he might have had wrong about Mr. Tony Stark…

 

Steve and Tony had the same lunch break because they were both on the 500 hall. He usually ate in the teacher’s lounge with Ms. Romanov, the Russian teacher, and Coach Barton, the gym coach. They were some of the first friends he’d made when he started teaching and they seemed the most _normal_ of the teachers who had the first lunch break with him. The other teachers included Mr. Stark and the equally brilliant but shy Chemistry teacher Dr. Banner who always seemed nice to Steve, though it was rumored he had a very short temper. The two of them were sometimes joined by the bossy, redheaded secretary, Ms. Potts, who had started at Shield High the very same time Tony had. 

Thor and Loki, brothers, moved between the groups easily and frequently. Thor was a gym coach like Coach Barton and he and Steve had started teaching the same year. Loki had come a little while later, clearly in pursuit of his brother. Steve still wasn’t really sure what subject Loki taught because every time he mentioned it the man remained silent and smiled a devious smile at him. Thor was good friends with Tony as well; Steve thought they both shared hugely boisterous personalities which was probably why they got along. Loki and Tony had a very antagonistic relationship. At least that was the way it seemed to Steve from his outside observations. Tony seemed to put up with him anyway, though, so Steve couldn’t be sure. 

The teacher’s lounge wasn’t large, just big enough to fit two tables. Although each table was close enough to hear the other, besides Thor and Loki, no one really seemed to mix. Once, Tony had turned around and said something to Natasha, to which she had just rolled her eyes and continued eating her lunch. It gave Steve the impression that they had known each other before, but he was never curious enough to ask her about it. 

The day after Steve had spent his free period listening to Tony teach, he decided that in order to learn more about Tony, he would need to stop avoiding him so much—starting with lunch. 

“Mr. Star—“ Steve cleared his throat as Tony turned surprised eyes on him. Steve’s gaze lingered on those shockingly arched eyebrows before starting again. “Tony, hi. I, um, was wondering if you would be interested in moving the tables closer together today. We’re, uh, all adults here. I think we can eat lunch together—plus, I feel a bit bad making Thor and Loki move constantly across the room. What—what do you think?” 

Tony was still looking at him with wide eyes, expression like he’d never quite seen Steve before. Steve hoped desperately that his excuses seemed plausible and wouldn’t betray the fact that Steve really just wanted to spend a little more time with Tony—now that he actually wanted to get to know him, that is. Eventually, Tony seemed to actually realize what it was Steve said and turned, grinning, to Bruce and Pepper. 

“What do you think, guys? Should we join forces with the _other_ teachers?” 

Ms. Potts rolled her eyes.

“We aren’t superheroes, Tony.” She then smiled up at Steve and said brightly. “We would love to combine tables. Natasha and I have been wanting to do that for some time now—we just weren’t sure you boys could get along.” 

And so, the tables combined. Natasha and Pepper, as it turned out, were rather good friends already and spent most of lunch talking so quickly to each other Steve didn’t have half a chance of catching anything either of them might have said. Bruce and Clint began talking between themselves fairly quickly into lunch as well, as did Thor and Loki. Which left Tony with no one to bother but Steve himself—but Steve was ready for it this time, and he wouldn’t let Tony’s exterior put him off without finding out a little bit about the man behind the bravado. 

“So,” the physics teacher said, raising one of those damned eyebrows again. “What brought on this sudden change of heart? I was under the impression you wanted to keep our,” he motioned between Steve and himself, “interaction to a minimum, Mr. Rogers.” 

Steve decided the truth was easiest. 

“I—uh, overheard you teaching yesterday, Tony.” 

“And?” Tony replied skeptically. 

“You were—well, you’re just a really good teacher. From what I saw, anyway.” Steve added hastily. He didn’t think he should reveal that he was listening in on the entire lesson. 

Steve had seen Tony plenty surprised thus far today, but that was nothing compared to how he looked now. His face was almost comical, his mouth dropped open and both dark eyebrows shot into his hairline. He blinked once or twice then said,

“I’m sorry, I can’t have heard you right. Did you say—“

“That you’re a good teacher? Yes,” Steve replied, smiling despite himself. “What, you don’t think that you are?” 

“Well, I mean, I guess I get the information across, but I’ve never thought I was a _good_ teacher. I came to school hung over the first day of semester last year.”

“Yeah,” Steve replied with a raised eyebrow of his own. “I remember.” 

“Right, exactly. So, how does that make me a good teacher?” 

“I didn’t say you were perfect, Tony. You’re just better than…” He trailed off and Tony seemed to finally catch on to what Steve was saying. 

“Better than you thought I’d be,” he finished for him. 

“No! Yes, maybe. Sorry, I don’t mean it like—you’re just so—“

“Listen, Steve,” Tony cut him off, chuckling under his breath. “I understand. You don’t have to worry about offending me or anything.”

“I don’t really mean it that way, though,” Steve continued. “I really do like your teaching style. You can connect with the kids, make them care about what you’re saying, you know?” 

Tony took a moment to reply, during which Steve was silently berating himself. He didn’t want Tony’s head to get too big from all the compliments. 

“That’s nice of you to say, Rogers,” Tony finally replied, and he seemed genuine. “I’ve never thought I was cut out for this. Someone like you, though. Your teaching style is the type I’ve always admired.” 

Now it was Steve’s turn to look surprised. All of his students always seemed to find his teaching style boring; he definitely hadn’t gotten many compliments on it since he started teaching. Tony spoke up before he could disagree.

“You care about the students, Steve. I’ve seen you stay after school for five extra hours just to help some kid study for a test the next day—a test that wasn’t even for your class!”

Steve blushed, about to give the reasoning behind that, because he didn’t think that was very special or anything. Kate had just needed some help in her art history class, and Steve was pretty knowledgeable in that subject so he offered to help her out. It really wasn’t a big deal. At least, Steve sure didn’t think so. 

Steve became very suddenly aware of Tony’s gaze and his smile, and the little twinkle in his eye. He tried to look away but Tony wasn’t having that. 

“I’ve always wanted to have a teacher like you,” Tony confessed, and it wasn’t in his usual loud, boisterous tone, but a soft sort of thing that Steve didn’t think Tony had admitted very many times before—if ever. 

“I was in private school since I was eleven,” he continued, rolling his eyes and turning to stare out of the teacher’s lounge window. “The teachers there weren’t really, eh, supportive. If you know what I mean.”

“You didn’t have _any_ teachers that you liked?” 

Tony shrugged. “They were getting paid to teach—not like we get paid, which, really, has gotta be somewhere near volunteer work, I don’t understand how you people live on that—but paid the big bucks. When you’re paid the big bucks to teach kids you don’t have to care about them and you most certainly don’t have to be nice to them. I mean I was smarter than half of them combined, but what did they care? I always heard stories about good teachers; teachers like you, Steve. Some kids would be transferred in from public schools, and they’d tell us about good teachers. I guess it always made me sort of want to be one of those good teachers.” 

Steve couldn’t imagine going through school without having one decent teacher to look up to that actually made school bearable. His seventh grade art teacher was the one who had first made him interested in drawing, and Steve had never turned back. Even now that his chosen career wasn’t in an art field he still drew whenever possible so that he wouldn’t get rusty. 

Steve tried not to think too hard about Tony saying he was a good teacher. It was one thing for Steve to think Tony was a good teacher but another for Tony to think he was a good teacher. 

He and Tony spent the rest of lunch period talking, much to Steve’s surprise. He discovered what he had suspected since before lunch started; once he got to know Tony he actually really liked him. Really, _really_ liked him.

Uh oh. 

 

“Billy! Teddy! Not again, please,” Steve said, shaking his head at the two students who’s mouth’s has just been plastered to each other’s frowned defiantly up at him from behind the stairwell. Teddy pushed out his chest to try and make himself almost as tall as Steve was. 

“Look Mr. Rogers, we know you probably don’t agree with our relationship, but—“

“Don’t agree?” Steve asked, suddenly take aback. “I’m perfectly fine with your relationship,” he admitted honestly, then sighed. “I just don’t think school is the place for—for that type of thing. Now, run along, okay. And if you don’t want me bothering you anymore I would suggest a different staircase.”

Teddy looked surprised but Billy smiled up at him, grabbed his boyfriend’s hand and pulled him away, still gaping at a slightly flushed Steve, who had trouble talking about that kind of thing with other adults, let alone students. 

Later that day he recalled that story to Tony at lunch, blushing the entire time and feeling overly conscious of Tony’s amused expression as he watched Steve with his chin resting lightly against his palm. When he finished the story Tony sat up. He seemed surprised as he said,

“Wait, you just… let them go? Didn’t give them some old school rant about finding nice girls to settle down with in a little house and give up their life of sin or whatever?” 

Steve frowned in reply.

“Of course not. Why would I—do you really think I would say something like that?” 

“You _are_ sort of,” he shrugged, “like that.” 

“I remember what it’s like to be bullied because you’re different. To have people look down on you. I’m not going to do that to any of my students. They need to know that I—we—support them no matter what. Maybe if more adults in their lives gave that a try there wouldn’t be so many kids thinking and feeling terrible things about themselves and—and—“

“Woah, woah, slow down, soldier. Clearly this is a hot-button issue for you, huh?” 

Steve hadn’t really realized that he’d started raising his voice until Tony cut him. He exhaled to try and calm himself down, but Tony was right—this was a tough topic for him. He heard things on the news all the time about kids—kids just like the ones he taught all day long—killing themselves because they were gay and they thought they were wrong because of it and he wished, he just felt like he needed to be doing _more_ to try and help them. He just didn’t know how.

“So… you aren’t against homosexuality then?” Tony prodded gently.

“Of course not,” Steve replied, a little hurt and angry that Tony would ever think he was in the first place. Then he remembered the rumors, and the way Tony sometimes looked at him, and he felt his face flush, thinking about the way Billy’s arms were wrapped so tightly around Teddy’s back, like he never wanted to let go, and he added faintly,

“I—I don’t judge other people for their orientations. O—other people’s lives aren’t any business of mine.” He caught Tony’s eye when he repeated “other people” and something there made him think Tony got his meaning. 

Steve hoped that now Tony would stop looking at him that way, because it really did make him uncomfortable, even if he didn’t really understand why…

 

He understood why. 

Steve was _attracted_ to Tony. Which meant that Steve was attracted to men. Which meant a lot of things that Steve had believed his whole life were, well, not _wrong_ , especially—just different. Like looking at the world through a window instead of experiencing it for himself. 

Steve didn’t just realize this over night, of course. It took a while for him to make the connection between the way he felt around Tony and what that feeling really meant. 

It started with the dreams. Dreams of Tony looking at him the same way Billy and Teddy looked at each other, except when Tony looked at Steve that way, Steve got that feeling. Like prickles under his skin, an anxious tension, a _want_. And then the dreams got more and more vivid, started taking shape, having plots.

Most of the time Tony would come in Steve’s classroom when there wasn’t anyone else there. He would look at Steve, smile at him and raise one eyebrow in silent question. At first, Steve wasn’t sure what to do in his dreams. He’d just laugh nervously, the tension stinging even in the dream-state. Eventually, though, he started to play along with the dreams. Even in his head he was shy and nervous. He barely got anyway before waking up, and once he was awake he shut his dreams out of his mind until it was time for bed again. 

But it was starting to stress him out. Even his students noticed it. Eli, who had always been his biggest fan—at least out of the students he was teaching this year, was the first to say something.

“Hey, Cap?” he asked, and Steve got this complicated feeling in his lower abdomen upon hearing that his students had now taken to calling him by that silly nickname too. 

“Yes, Eli? Can I help you with something?” 

“No, Mr. Rogers, nothing like that. I just thought you looked a little… sick, is all. You haven’t given us any homework this whole week.” 

Steve blanched. He hadn’t thought it was so obvious that he was having trouble sleeping, having trouble concentrating or even _thinking_ because every time he tried to do anything all he thought about were the feelings he’d been having towards Tony. He took a deep breath, tried smiling at an obviously not-fooled Eli, and said,

“No, Eli. I’m not sick. I’ve just been—“

“Sick? Steve, are you _sick?_ ” 

Feeling like his clothes suddenly weighed a thousand pounds, Steve turned slowly around to find the cause of his stress striding from the doorway towards him. Before Steve could even bother trying to defend himself Tony’s hands were on his forehead and his neck. 

Steve sucked in a deep breath and willed himself not to make any sudden movements, shocked or otherwise. It really didn’t help how aware he was of just Tony’s hands touching his skin. 

It also didn’t help that last night’s dream had featured those hand very heavily. 

He held his breath, because lately he’d been noticing the way Tony smelled, and he didn’t like that he was noticing that. 

“Are you really sick, Steve? You do have bags under your eyes. When was the last day you had off?”

“Sunday,” Steve replied flatly, avoiding the light of Tony’s eyes. 

“Yeah, duh, but I mean a non-weekened type day off?” 

Steve shrugged, just hoping that maybe Tony would go away. He could only hold his breath and avoid his face for so long. Also, he was running out of conversation to have with Thor at lunch so he didn’t make it seem like he was avoiding talking to Tony. 

“I’m fine,” he said finally, pushing reluctantly out of Tony’s grip, suddenly remembering the whole class of students in front of them. “I don’t need a day off. What are you doing here anyway, Mr. Stark?” Tony just kept staring at him, and it was very hard for Steve to stop the thoughts trying to sneak into his mind. He looked around the class and rolled his eyes. “Wait, let me guess: you want Parker.”

“Huh?” Tony said, frowning like he just realized he was in a classroom that wasn’t his own. He swallowed and Steve tried very, _very_ hard not to follow the curve of his throat down past the unbuttoned first couples buttons of his coworker’s shirt. He didn’t exactly succeed, and only realized that when Tony then cleared his throat and turned to find Parker once again snoozing in his seat. 

“Uh, yeah! I came for Parker. Need him for a genetics experiment. Spiders. He’ll love it.”

“Right,” Steve nodded, trying to act normal, like he wasn’t have fantasy dreams about the man standing in front of him every night. 

“Thanks, Steve,” Tony said, smiling at him (Steve’s chest felt tight) before going to wake Peter up and dragging him out of the class again. 

He smiled at Steve one more time, closing the door on his way out. 

Steve felt like an idiot. 

 

So, he did what he always did when he realized he was being an idiot: he called Bucky. 

“Steve, bro! How’s the ultra-exciting life of a high school history teacher?” 

Steve rolled his eyes at his best friend’s sarcasm. He and Bucky had joined the army together as soon as they could after graduating themselves. For a while Steve thought he finally had everything he ever wanted; the army training had finally helped him bulk up in all the right places, and there was Peggy. Peggy was smart, and beautiful, and strong and Steve had pretty much fallen for her when they first met.

Which had only made it that much worse when she was fatally wounded in a mission that Steve hadn’t even been _on_. After that, he couldn’t bring himself to fight anymore. The army just didn’t seem like it held everything he ever wanted any longer. He quit and went back to school; Bucky stayed. At first he was planning on going to get an art degree, but somewhere along the way he wound up with an education degree in American History and he was hired at Shield High School before he even realized what had happened. 

He didn’t mind the way it had turned out. Steve liked teaching. He figured he was pretty good at it, and it was safe and didn’t remind him of Peggy or the things he had lost. 

He certainly hadn’t expected teaching high school to make him suddenly start questioning his sexuality. 

“Bucky, what would you say if I told you I think I might possibly like men?” 

“Um,” Bucky paused, and Steve could almost see him scratching his head blankly. Shoot, he probably shouldn’t have just sprung that on him. It _was_ kind of big.

“Like, exclusively?” Bucky finally managed to ask. “Because I think I might have noticed if—“

“No, no, just—what’s the word, bi? Bi-curious, maybe? I don’t know. You’re not going to shun me or anything, right Buck?” 

“Are you an idiot, of course not! What kind of asshole best friend would I be if I did that?” 

Steve sighed, sinking down into the sole chair in his apartment’s kitchen. 

“What happened, Steve? You meet a guy or something?” 

“What makes you think that? I might have just suddenly come to this realization.”

“But you didn’t, did you?” Bucky replied, and Steve could just tell he was smirking. 

“Not exactly…”

“What’s his name?”

“Tony Stark,” he mumbled, unsure why he’d reveal that information so easily. Oh well; it’s Bucky. He’d never tell one of Steve’s secrets. Best friends don’t do that. 

“Stark? Huh… Does that name sound familiar to you?”

“Um, not really. Why, is it familiar to you?” 

“I think I’ve heard it before, yeah,” Bucky said, and his voice sounded farther away, like he’d set it down to look for something else. It was quiet on the other line for a moment except for some clicking that might have been Bucky typing something on his laptop. Steve didn’t have a laptop. He didn’t really have anything to look up. He had an old home system, but he mostly used it to type things and sometimes email his student’s parents. He was pretty terrible at modern technology, something Bucky was always quick to poke fun at him over. 

Somehow Steve just knew Tony was good at technology. He was a scientist after all. Didn’t they have to be good at computers? He groaned, wondering why he thought he and Tony had anything in common at all besides teaching. He should probably just give up before even trying. 

“Got it!” Bucky spoke up, and Steve pressed the phone to his ear again as Bucky made a surprised sound and started explaining what he’d found.

“His dad worked for the army!”

“What? Really?”

“Yeah! He designed weapons for _years_ , and according to this article, his son took up his post for a while after he died. Hey, there’s a picture! Damn, Steve! I can see why you’d be into this Tony guy. He’s got looks, brains, _and_ money.” 

“I don’t care about his money, Bucky!” Steve rebuffed, thinking about the time he’d seen Tony slide Peter Parker some money and had wrongly accused him of doing something untoward. He had really wrongly judged the guy at first. He wouldn’t be surprised if Tony wanted nothing to do with him anymore. 

“I know, I know, but it’s still cool. So, are you gonna ask him out?” 

“Uhhh…” Steve blushed. Just the idea of asking Tony out sounded like a nightmare. 

“Do I need to come back for a visit, Steve?”

“No!” Now _that_ would be a nightmare. “No, I’ll take care of it.”

“Good.” And Bucky was definitely smirking again. 

“Hey, Buck?” Steve asked softly.

“Yup?”

“Thanks for not shunning me.”

“Don’t worry about it, buddy. I just expect an equally receptive reaction if I suddenly spring on you that I’ve accidentally knocked some hot girl up or something like that.”

Steve grinned.

“Please don’t accidentally get some poor girl pregnant, Bucky.”

“I’ll do my best. Good luck with Stark.”

And then he hung up, and even though Steve felt a lot better than he had before he’d made the call, the path ahead seemed far more daunting now. 

 

That was the third thing Steve had seen fall past the window closest to his desk. He knew it wasn’t just his imagination anymore, because when the third mysterious object fell, half the class turned to look at it as well. Right after it passed the window there was a sound from outside like that of cheering. Steve frowned. Whoever was dropping things from atop the building was interrupting his class in the middle of an important lesson that would probably be on the standardized testing given to his students at the end of the year. 

He set his book down and approached the window. He could hear faint voices when he opened it, but he didn’t see anyone, so he stuck his head outside the window, looking up. Just as he was about to yell up at whoever was on the roof to quit tossing things down, a voice shouted from above,

“Geronimo!” 

One minute Steve watched as something fell towards him and the next minute he had a face full of egg. 

“Oh, crap! It hit Mr. Rogers!”

“It _what?_ ” And as if Steve wasn’t already embarrassed enough—that was Tony’s voice. He wiped some egg away from his eyes and looked up only to see Tony staring down at him from the roof with wide eyes. 

“Steve! What are you doing?”

“What am _I_ doing? Tony, what are you doing throwing eggs off of the roof of the school?” Steve called back up at him. 

“Physics experiment,” Tony offered weakly, shrugging. Steve scowled up at him, and then Tony was grinning apologetically as a few of his students faces appeared over the side of the roof. 

“Sorry about that, Steve. Be down in a sec! Stay right there!” 

Steve was about to argue that he wasn’t just going to stay with his face covered in egg and stuck hanging out of the window, but Tony was already gone. He sighed, pulling himself back inside and shutting the window. A few of his students started snickering, but he just glared and tried to get the egg off with his hands. 

“Keep reading where you left off and answer the critical reading questions at the back of the book. _Yes_ , even the Complex Thinking ones.”

There were a few groans and Steve might have felt guilty (even he didn’t like the complex thinking questions) but he had egg on his face, _literally_ , and he wasn’t feeling guilty about much at the moment. While his students were busy getting their books out Tony burst through the door with comedic exuberance. When he saw Steve he very obviously had to stop himself from laughing. 

“Yeah, it’s very funny,” Steve deadpanned, but his heart was beating faster. This was the first time he’d really seen Tony since speaking to Bucky on the phone. 

“I’m so, so sorry Steve. Here, I found this towel.” He shoved a stiff, purple towel into Steve’s hands and Steve stared at it suspiciously for a moment before deciding that he wanted the egg off of his face more than he was worried about the state-of-sanitization of the towel—which was questionable at best. 

As soon as he finished wiping away the egg (as best he could), he pulled the towel away to find Tony watching him. If his face grew red he hoped Tony would think he’d just scrubbed vigorously to clean the egg away. 

“On the plus side,” Tony began, “I’ve heard egg is pretty good for complexion. So… there’s that.”

“Tony, do you want to go to dinner sometime?” 

It was probably because he’d spent any and every quiet moment since talking to Bucky thinking about trying to ask Tony that very thing that it slipped out the way it did without him even thinking it through. It was _almost_ worth the megaton of embarrassment and regret scourging through Steve just to see the look of open-mouthed surprise on Tony’s face. A lost-for-words Tony Stark was something one didn’t get to see every day. 

“I—uh, um—“

“Come on, Mr. Stark! Say yes, say yes!”

Oh, _god_. His students. Steve had actually forgotten about them. He wondered how hard it would be to get transferred to another school in the middle of the semester.

“Yeah, don’t leave him hanging, Mr. Stark!”

Steve couldn’t bear to look at his class, but from the corner of his eye that was uncovered by his hands as he tried to vanish from existence he saw Tony blink at his students with wide, owlish eyes. Tony had _really_ nice eyes, and now was definitely most completely _not_ the time to have a thought like that. 

“Come on, Mr. Stark!”

“Oh shut it!” Tony finally snapped at them playfully. “Who do you guys think you are, Hitch? Steve, uh, dinner sounds great.”

The class cheered, but Steve barely even registered it, because he was just stuck staring at Tony, who was smiling fondly at him, his face just a little flushed as well. They seemed to be standing really close all of the sudden, and Steve might have kissed him right then, in the middle of class and all, except that Tony cleared his throat and knocked Steve right out of his little dream world. 

“Right. So, um, great! I should probably, uh, go. I left my class on the… roof. Which, in hindsight, probably not my brightest idea. I should get back up there before they start throwing people off to see if they can fly. I’ll, uh, see you later, Cap.” 

Steve had never loved the sound of that nickname more. 

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

They made plans for dinner during lunch break, and it was horribly awkward. Mostly because they had to do so in front of their friends and fellow coworkers. Pepper, Natasha, and (weirdly) Loki, shared knowing smirks between themselves. Clint just looked confused for a minute, glancing between Steve and Tony until frowning and asking,

“Wait, are we allowed to date other teachers now?”

“Fury doesn’t give a shit unless it disrupts the work environment, Barton,” Tony replied with a roll of his eyes. 

Clint looked overly shocked at this, then grinned widely, clapped his hands together, and announced,

“Awesome! Because Banner and I have been dating for _months_!” 

Which was apparently way more of a shock to everyone at the table than Steve and Tony’s date was, and Steve was very thankful because it took almost all of the attention off of him. He’d had about enough all the attention he could take at this point. He did feel a bit bad for Bruce, but the guy was dating _Clint_ , so, really, he should have been prepared for something like this. 

The day eventually came for Steve and Tony’s arranged date, and Steve was insanely nervous. They’d decided to go out on a weekday, because they were both busy on the weekends. Steve was a volunteer firefighter (Tony had just given him this look, and when Steve had asked, “what?” Tony just smiled, shook his head, and said, “Of course you are”) and Tony usually spent his free time inventing (“not weapons anymore,” he’d said when Steve admitted that he’d heard of his father’s and his work with the army, “I’m trying something different now, apparently sustainable energy is a thing”). So, Steve had spent the entire day, in every one of his classes internally panicking about the upcoming date. He even spent his planning period listening in on one of Tony’s classes again. 

By the end of the day he was so riled up that when Tony came bounding into his classroom he nearly flipped his desk over standing up from it. He didn’t want to make Tony wait or anything; then, the moment he saw the look on Tony’s face he knew they weren’t going out that night.

“Steve, I’m so sorry.”

“Is something wrong?” 

“No! No, Jesus, everything’s fine, I promise. It’s just—shit, you’re gonna hate me for this.”

“Tony, I won’t hate you. What is it?” 

Tony took a deep breath through his nose, bit his lip, then sighed and started talking a mile a minute like only Tony Stark could.

“Okay, so, there’s this _huge_ science fair next week, right, and Peter’s project is _awesome_ , and also fucking complicated, and we’ve been working on it for _weeks_ , and we’re really, super close to almost being finished, and he’s not sure when else he’ll be able to work on it before the fair and I can’t leave him to work on it on his own because it’s sort of dangerous and he needs adult supervision, and also I really want to help so his project will win because he _deserves it_ and there’s prize money and the competition is that _fucking_ Xavier’s institute and they beat us every single year and I swore that I would beat them this year, and Peter’s project is the only one good enough to—“

“Tony, Tony, woah, slow down!”

Tony took another deep breath, eyes sort of manic and apologetic at the same time. Steve smiled at him, because he actually liked this part of Tony. No one could say Tony Stark lacked passion. 

“So you want to postpone our… dinner?” 

“Yes, please, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I understand.”

“Really?” Tony asked, and he actually looked mildly surprised, like he expected Steve to be angry or upset that he couldn’t make their date. 

“We can reschedule. Right?” Steve added nervously. 

“Of course!” 

“Great,” Steve replied, relieved. There was a moment of quiet, and then Steve went out on a limb and asked lightly,

“You and Peter wouldn’t need any, um, help finishing this project, would you?”

Tony’s eyes went wide to match his grin. He grabbed Steve’s hand and started pulling him out of the room before Steve could even figure out what was going on. 

 

The three of them worked until dark. They ordered pizza to the school and Tony paid the very confused delivery guy as Peter tore into the first slice like he’d never eaten before in his life. Steve was worried at first that he would just be more in the way than any help, but they found things for him to do; organizing photos, labeling graphs, and drawing out the outline for the backboard. Both Tony and Peter agreed that Steve’s design was much better than either of them could have come up with. 

Even if he hadn’t had things to do, Steve would have been content to watch Tony and Peter working. They moved with the same rhythm, thought in similar patterns, and had the same sense of humor. Steve thought they acted sort of like father and son, and it was adorable. 

There were a few moments when Tony caught Steve watching them, and their gazes locked, and Steve felt like he’d lost his breath. Then one of them would look away and it would vanish until it happened again. Then other times Tony would stand close to him and Steve would feel a pull, like he wanted to touch Tony, and then Tony would move away again and it would be gone. Steve was pretty such that was what sexual tension felt like. 

Eventually, about an hour after sunset, Peter said that he needed to get home or his Aunt May would start to worry. He thanked both Tony and Steve, slung his backpack across his shoulders, and headed to the door, leaving the two men quite suddenly alone. It was like every fleeting glance and shared space all day collided together the next moment, like drops of water pooling together in one small space of time, and Steve swallowed thickly. 

“Sorry again, about tonight,” Tony said, smiling almost hesitantly up at Steve. “And for making you stay after help with all this stuff.”

“You didn’t make me do anything I didn’t want to do,” Steve replied, ducking his head to start organizing the mess left over from the project.

“Oh, great. Um, may I ask why?”

“Why what?”

Tony hesitated, his shoulders dropping.

“Why you would want to spend all afternoon with me working on a project that you don’t have anything to do with?” 

“Well if Peter wins the science fair, that’s good for the whole school, right?” 

Tony frowned, wagging his finger animatedly at Steve.

“Don’t try and get smart with me, Rogers. I’m the smartest guy at this school. I have three PhD’s!”

“Well good for you,” Steve grinned. “Not all of us graduated high school at 17.”

“15, actually.”

“Of course,” Steve conceded, rolling his eyes. 

“You didn’t answer the question,” Tony added, and when Steve glanced at him he seemed almost self-conscious, a little anxious around the eyes. Steve swallowed and looked away.

“I didn’t want to waste time I could be spending with you,” he admitted honestly and instantly wondered if that was saying too much. Tony was quiet for a moment and Steve really hoped his heart wasn’t thudding nearly as loudly as it sounded like it was to him. 

“I was sure I’d scared you off.”

Steve turned to look at him, eyes wide with surprise and confusion.

“In the beginning, I mean. You _really_ didn’t like me. You made that perfectly clear. I figured it was because I was, you know, coming on pretty strong. Sorry about that, I guess. It’s just, from the moment I first saw you I wanted you so bad.”

Steve couldn’t believe what he was hearing and was probably blushing down to his toes. 

“Pepper tried to tell me to lay off, but I never listen to her. Then you started talking to me, and we sat together at lunch, and I learned you don’t, actually, hate gays, because I was a little worried about that, what with your old-fashioned morals and everything. Then you asked me out _in front of your entire class_ and I will not lie to you, I thought I was dreaming. Who knew all I had to do to get you to ask me out was drop egg on your face, huh?”

Steve laughed and saw Tony smile at him. Then, he turned away, and Steve couldn’t resist asking,

“How come you never asked me, then?”

“Fair question. Uh, maybe I was sort of intimidated. Remember when I told you that you were the type of teacher I always admired? Yeah, wasn’t lying. And I guess I just thought I was probably too childish for you.”

“You aren’t too childish, Tony. I mean, you’ve pretty much got nothing on Clint.”

Tony grinned, swallowed, and nodded.

“So, about that date.”

“I think I have some time right now, if you’re free?” 

Tony’s grinned widened and he nodded, grabbing his jacket and walking towards the door.

“I’m up for some dessert. Come on, Cap. I know a place. My treat.”

Steve smiled and followed, completely unashamedly staring at Tony’s ass the entire time. 

 

One Week Later

Steve paced just outside his classroom door. School had let out 20 minutes ago, but he wouldn’t head home until he heard the news. Suddenly there was a commotion down the hall and he stopped pacing and looked up. Form around the corner Mr. Stark came sprinting, shouting and cheering with Peter by his side holding a rather magnificent trophy. 

“WE WON!” He yelled towards Steve, and Steve threw his arms in the air in triumph as well. 

“I won, I won, I won, I won!” Peter cheered more quietly to himself as he and Tony approached Steve’s classroom door. 

“Thanks for all the help Mr. Stark,” he said, smile stretching from ear to ear. “And you too, Mr. Rogers. Um, mostly thanks for letting me leave class whenever I needed. I never would have finished if it weren’t for that.” 

“Yeah, fine,” Steve shook his head. “Just make sure you’re ready for tomorrow’s test.”

“No problem, Cap!” Peter said, then pulled out his phone and checked a text, stuffing his [hone back in his pocket and nearly dropping his trophy before adding hastily,

“Alright, my Aunt May’s outside and she wants to take me for celebratory dinner, so I’d better go.” He stopped and turned to Tony once more. Before he could see to stop himself he had his arms around Tony’s waist, hugging him tightly. Tony looked adorably surprised for a moment before his gaze softened and he hugged Peter back. Steve had never seen anything sweeter. 

“Thanks again, Mr. Stark.”

“We’ll have to think up an even better project next year, Parker! No slacking off now that we’ve gotten the prize!”

“You got it!” Peter agreed and then he was off, practically skipping down the hallway towards the front entrance. 

“You should have been there, Steve! Xavier’s face was _priceless_. I tried to take a picture but my phone’s camera wasn’t working right. Oh well, at least I’ll have it in my memory forever. Or I can try again next year, because there’s no way—“

“Tony,” Steve cut him off, smiling fondly, and Tony looked at him with wide eyes, as though just suddenly aware of how close they were standing. Steve grabbed his waist with both hands, smiled wider at the sound Tony made, and then kissed him like he’d never kissed before. It wasn’t long before Tony’s tongue was snaking into his mouth and his hands were winding their way into Steve’s hair. Steve felt like a kid again.

He might have gone on kissing Tony for the rest of the day, but there came a loud clearing of throat a ways down the hall and they broke apart, both looking suitably flustered. Principle Fury was glaring at them in the way only Fury really can, one eye deep and judging and fixed on them like they were students and not teachers. 

“No canoodling in the hallways.” 

“Yes, Sir,” Steve nodded, too happy to bother feeling embarrassed. At least he thought so until Tony leaned into his ear and whispered,

“He didn’t say anything about canoodling in the classrooms.” 

And Steve was blushing and grinning as Tony pulled him towards his classroom. Off in the distance and a ways back down the hallway he thought he heard Principle Fury mutter something else, but he didn’t give it all too much thought as Tony’s teeth scraped gently against his throat, hands already pulling away Steve’s tie. 

“ _Worse than the goddam students._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> So, you should know that even though I'm posting this I'm not very proud of it. There are a few scenes I liked, like being able to include the Young Avengers, and Peter, and the Xavier's Institute as their science fair rivals, but as a SteveTony fic I think its sort of lacking. Originally I had planned on including an actually sex scene in this one, but it just didn't happen. 
> 
> Anyway! I hope you've liked reading this at least a little (and if you haven't, I would read the other two stories in this series because they are really much better).


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